The post of Police and Crime Commissioner should be scrapped altogether following the resignation of shamed Shaun Wright, the public of Sheffield said today.

The former PCC finally resigned on Tuesday, three weeks after news of the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal broke.

People in Sheffield welcomed the fact he has gone – but questioned the value of the role at all.

Stephanie Jones, aged 29, a mum-of-three and a foster carer, said Shaun Wright has let young people down and she has lost faith in the system which protects children.

She said: “I don’t think we need a Police and Crime Commissioner to be honest. They don’t work for us, they don’t do anything for us.

“I have three kids and I think more should have been done for those young children.

“People need to start standing up for them, and the offenders shouldn’t be let off because of their race. A paedophile is a paedophile.

“To be honest, I don’t think it will make a difference who takes over as PCC. Nothing will change.

“This PCC may have resigned, but these issues are so much bigger.”

David Haslam, 74, lives in Dronfield and used to work for Sheffield Council.

He said: “I don’t know whether we need a crime commissioner as a job.

“The system used to be that the local authority had a police committee, but the PCC is out on his own. I think that needs rethinking.”

He said a good turnout for the by-election to find a successor was vital. “I think it’s extremely important that people do vote. Because if you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain about what happens.”

He added: “Shaun Wright was hanging on I think because he didn’t want to become a scapegoat. Everybody was looking at him to resign but by resigning it implied he alone was responsible. But he wasn’t. All the 1,400 young children being molested was disgusting.

“There definitely must have been a lot of turning of blind eyes in the system.”

Roger Walker, 69, of Kendray, Barnsley, said: “This time I think we need to take a lot more care in who we elect. They all need a full background check and I want to know everything about them before I vote for any of them. But I don’t think we need a PCC – it should be a committee.”

He added: “Rotherham is going to be a pariah town for at least a couple of years now. The new PCC needs to be somebody up and coming. There’s too many ‘jobs for the boys’ – I think that’s what happened with Shaun Wright.”